Caring For Your Comet Goldfish

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Introduction

If you’re looking for a new low maintenance companion, or a new addition to your home aquarium you may decide the best option will be the very cute comet goldfish. They may be similar to the common goldfish, but they have distinctive features which give them that little twisted which makes them stand out from the crowd. Key to this difference is the longer and deeply forked tail which provides them with more elegance as they glide around, but they are also slimmer and smaller than your average goldfish. The comet goldfish is one of the oldest variants of the common goldfish, and have been bred since the 1800’s, which makes them one of the most well known variants also. They are cheap to purchase and easy to look after but there are a few pointers to follow to ensure a healthy lifestyle and long life for your new pet fish.

Home – The Tank

One of the most important factors in looking after your comet goldfish is getting its home right. Make sure you don’t place them in an overcrowded tank environment, goldfish can grow quite large when given the right tank environment, which also affords them a longer lifespan. You should be looking to purchase a 55 gallon tank as minimum requirement for a small group of comets. However, we would recommend the tank be a little larger and be 75 gallons as this will allow your fish to grow to their natural size. The comets can grow up to 13 inches in length given the correct environment. They can also live for approximately 15 years if kept healthy and kept in the right conditions. First step is getting the size of the tank right. Follow these guidelines and your fish will at least have enough room.

Filter

Next, you need to choose the correct filter for your fish. These range in price and size, usually the bigger the filter, the better it’ll be to keep that water regulated and clean. You really need to ensure you get a canister filter, but similar effects can be achieved with cheaper methods so don’t panic too much about going all out with the expense. A hang on back filter used with a sponge filter could achieve the same standard of filtration on a budget. If you can afford it go big, but don’t panic if you can’t, you will still be able to provide a great life for your fish.

Temperature

All goldfish are cold water fish, please ensure you don’t boil them and cook them. You don’t want these fish with your chips, they wouldn’t be very filling and they make such great companions swimming around their tank. First things first, don’t get a heated tank, this is unnecessary, in fact it will kill your fish. Also, don’t keep the fish in an overly heated room, they need a cool environment so keep them in a cool room. So, what’s the ideal temperature for your goldfish tank to be? The optimal range would be between 10 and 24 degrees centigrade, which is a quite a broad range. In Fahrenheit that range is roughly between 50 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. A final warning for this section, but a overly hot tank can result in nerve damage for them, which obviously should be avoided at all costs. The best way to monitor this is a to purchase a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your tank and ensure it’s within the optimal range at all times.

Friends in mixed aquarium

Just for a second let’s anthropomorphise your comet goldfish, give him a human like social life and see who would make a good friend for him or her. Because of the tank temperature conditions we mentioned previously under no circumstances can they be kept with tropical fish or in a tropical fish tank. When considering some tank mates, or fish friends the best options are the following:

Gold Barbs – Has an appealing gold with black pattern look, these Asian freshwater fish are good with all other types of fish.

Dojo Loaches – Also known as pond loaches, are Japanese weather fish, they have a long thin body. They are a bit strange looking but very elegant in the water. Great for something different to go with your goldfish, and no problems sharing a tank with other fish. a great friend you could say.

Zebra Danios – These are beautiful blue and gold freshwater fish that belong to the minnow family. Word of warning with these, they have been known to nip at goldfish, especially if they are in small quantities. Beauty comes with a price it would seem.

Feeding Your Comet Goldfish

The most important day to day element of looking after your pet fish is the act of feeding it. Getting them to accept food is not difficult, they will eat almost anything. as long as they can fit it into their mouth they will eat it. What is difficult is feeding them correctly. To do this you need to recreate their diet in the wild. This consists mainly of plant matter and algae, this is where the goldfish get the majority of their fibre. If this isn’t replicated by your feeding routine and they lack the fibre content they need it will cause the fish to bloat. This leads them to bloat up and float around the bottom of the tank. There’s a great tip if this does happen to your goldfish, but obviously do all you can to avoid it happening, but if it does use shelled peas which usually clear the blockage. The diet needs to consist of fish flakes, Spirulina for example, and a variety of vegetables including cucumber, broccoli and zucchini.

Conclusion

Hopefully this is all the information you’ll need to care after your comet goldfish. As stated they are quite easy to look after and maintain the upkeep of. You just have to ensure you get the basics right like the size of their tank, filter, temperature and feeding routine. All of which is explained here and is pretty simple allowing you to have peace of mind to make that step to brighten up your life with a comet goldfish.

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One comment

I rescued several Comet Goldfish from the local pet store. There were 100s in a large tank, that were gong to be food for some large, predatory fish. Not sure why people would want to feed these fish to another fish, because “feeder fish” aren’t well taken care of and not really nutritious. Anyway, I put the new fish in a larger tank with some aquarium plants and they’re really doing well. They have better food and a lot more room to swim. They’re colorful, usually orange. I have some that are silver and some have black tips on their fins. These are really a nice looking fish and if you give them lots of large, weekly water changes and some good food, they’re really active and healthy.